We’re big fans of podcasts, especially ones about food (surprise!), and not just because it sounds cool when we tell people we listen to podcasts. (Okay, maybe a little.) They’re a wealth of information, from practical kitchen tips and tricks to fascinating interviews with celebrity chefs, and pretty much everything in between. Plus, we can pop them on when we’re working out, grocery shopping, or even cooking dinner. And we have to say, given how much time we spend on screens, podcasts are a wonderful sensory experience. Just listen!

Whether you’re already a big podcast fan or you’ve never listened, but want to give them a try, here are 13 of best food podcasts for families, or really, anyone who enjoys food. We listened to a ton and, whew, it was tough to narrow it down, but we did. We certainly hope you enjoy these as much as we do.

Related: How to download and listen to a podcast on your phone.

Best food podcasts: Spilled Milk

Spilled Milk is a humorous podcast hosted by comedians/writers Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton that tackles a different food item each week, like Taiwanese junk food, fruit salad and, yes, even cough drops. They spend the episode tasting the foods and talking about it, with lots of funny tangential conversation that makes you feel like you’re right there with them.

Best food podcasts: KCRW’s Good Food

If you enjoy public radio, KCRW’s Good Food is for you. The episodes are long, we’re not going to lie, but as history nerds, we always enjoy the first half of each podcast that ties food together with politics, history, and social issues. The second half explores unique restaurants, which are mostly based in Los Angeles. While they are interesting, unless you live there, you could easily skip this part, and just enjoy the first part like we do. Still, even only half a listen is worth even minute.

Best food podcasts: Tech Bites

We’re new fans of Tech Bites, a 50-minute podcast that features fascinating interviews and conversation about new tech and food, including start-ups, apps, websites, and more. We love the smart conversation and discovering something new, which makes us feel smarter. Ha!

Related: How to find and listen to podcasts on your iPhone.

Best food podcasts: Cooking Issues

We find the host of Cooking Issues, David Arnold, to be hilarious and smart, a perfect host combination. He answers all different kinds of listener questions about cooking in a way that makes you feel like you are sitting across the dinner table having a conversation with him. Some of the tips are for pro level home cooks, but we still love listening anyway. Who knows: If we listen enough, maybe we’ll all reach pro level too!

Related: Off the Kids’ Menu – An interview about kids and food with Chef Kevin Sbraga

Best food podcasts: America’s Test Kitchen

Think This American Life, but about food. America’s Test Kitchen is a well-produced show that features interviews and journalistic stories, as well as cooking tips and gadget reviews, all of which you’ll enjoy even if you don’t consider yourself to be a foodie. Home cooks of all kinds will find useful tips in these episodes, which is pretty cool.

Best food podcasts: The Sporkful

In each quick, 20-minute episode of The Sporkful, host Dan Pashman covers one topic, like couples who disagree about whether green beans are a finger food, what constitutes school lunches these days, and much more. He’s a fabulous interviewer, whether talking to a celebrity chef about food or a listener who’s come to him with a food conundrum. This podcast definitely lives up to its tagline, “It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters,” which we think is a good thing.

Best food podcasts: Burnt Toast

We love Food52, so it’s no surprise that we’re subscribers of their Burnt Toast podcast, hosted by Kenzi Wilbur. While it can get a little hardcore foodie (like the in-depth look at the James Beard awards), there’s plenty of content with takeaways for parents on most shows, from cooking with kids to what does “healthy” food actually mean.

Best food podcasts: This Week For Dinner

You’ve seen some of Jane Maynard’s posts here on Cool Mom Eats, but you might not know that she is also the host of her very own food podcast. On This Week For Dinner, Jane shares her own favorite kitchen tips and recipes, as well as chats with a special guest every week, including our own food editor Stacie Billis. We love popping this podcast on while we’re making dinner because her friendly banter with her weekly guests makes it feel like we’re cooking with friends.

Best food podcasts: Go Fork Yourself

We’ve always enjoyed watching Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods show on TV—although sometimes we can’t quite stomach actually watching him eat the bugs and, well, worse—and we equally enjoy his podcast with Molly Mogren Katt, Go Fork Yourself. They discuss their travels—they’ve been to every continent and have done way more adventuresome things than we probably ever will—and the food they eat along the way (bonus: no weird food to look at!). They cover some more serious issues on occasion, like last week’s discussion about substance abuse from a very honest and experienced perspective. But mostly it’s just that fun adventure you wish you could have, or just enjoy hearing about someone else taking.

Best food podcasts: The Splendid Table

For years we’ve enjoyed The Splendid Table on NPR, so we love that the podcast makes it possible to listen to it whenever you want. Host Lynne Rossetto Kasper has a way of describing food—with so much love and passion for it—that you almost feel like you’ve gotten to eat along with her. She’s full knowledge, creating the most amazing recipes on the fly and effortlessly answering callers’ questions, and has a cool, zen-like way of speaking that will forever be immortalized by Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon in their Delicious Dish skit on SNL. Classic.

Related: How to find your favorite podcasts on your phone.

Best food podcasts: Special Sauce with Ed Levine

Special Sauce features long-form interviews with some of the food world’s most vibrant personalities, from Michael Pollan to J. Kenji López-Alt and Dorie Greenspan. Each episode is a story about how the chef/baker/writer came to love food and how they pursued their passion to arrive at their current foodie stardom. Special Sauce could be a great encouragement to a kid who aspires to go into the cooking world, or any kid with a dream, really.

Best food podcasts: Eat Your Words

There are too many amazing cookbooks and food manifestos out there to read them all (trust us, we’ve tried). So we love that Cathy Erway, host of Eat Your Words, gives us a taste of the best new books out there through her informative and surprisingly fun author interviews. It’s a great way to try a new cookbook before you buy it or to educate your kids about food ethics—or to just make this summer’s road trip a lot more interesting.

Best food podcasts: Gravy

Think of Gravy as Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations . . . just on the radio. And Southern. Like Bourdain’s show, Gravy uses food as an entry point for exploring different cultures, and in such an entertaining way. Our favorite episode involves a group of Kurdish immigrants connecting with their new Nashville neighbors by sharing their own cuisine (cheesy flatbread, anyone?). Gravy’s a great listen for anyone who loves good stories, and it might even help motivate kids to try a new food. The possibility alone is worth a listen.

Tags: food news, fun finds, podcasts, tips and tricks